CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
We began the journey home, a feeling of nostalgia in my heart. I didn’t know what we were going to do yet but I was banking on Xavier not expecting me to have come all the way here and even if he does, before he gets here, we would have already gone to the edge of the city where the resistance operates from.
“Permit me to ask but where are you young ladies heading to?” the man asked as he turned to the path I vividly remember Mom driving us through.
I didn’t blame the man for wondering about our story, we were an odd bunch; a young girl, a pregnant woman and one who covered her face completely and to be found in the Ky-rhan city? We were quite far from home. But the dilemma was, how much of a lie did I need to lie to him? What if he could be of help to us in more ways than one? I exchanged nervous looks with my girls and I looked at Roe; she’ll have to take one for the team now.
“Sorry for putting you in this situation but my friend here escaped from her alien master and called us to come rescue her. We didn’t really think it through before rushing over here,” I explained, sadness coating my voice.
“Those bastards!” he fumed, “not only do they take what’s ours in every sphere but they take our daughters too and won’t even treat them with basic dignity!”
“He always locked me in a tiny room with no light for days because he didn’t want my color to overshadow that of his son,” Roe replied and I took a deep breath, “and he used to hit me until the pregnancy began to show. I couldn’t do this anymore so the moment I got a chance to run, I took it and thankfully, I had crammed my friend’s home cell and here we are. Thank you for stopping by,”
“It’s the least I could do and I wish my daughter had been able to escape too,” he replied, his eyes shiny with tears.
I shifted uncomfortably, I hadn’t meant to open the man’s internal wounds, why didn’t I think of something else? Damn.
“She didn’t survive the birth?’ Anna asked and I looked at immediately, alarmed. I didn’t get why she was delving deeper into the man’s pain. It was quite uncomfortable, I’d rather we finished this journey in silence. I was about to caution her when I realized I sounded like my mom and I took a deep breath. Maybe this won’t be a bad idea.
“Oh she did. In fact, she went ahead to have four more for that vile creature and they are married now. She tells me she’s happy where she is and that I should stop calling her but I know my daughter, she would never discard her family like that,”
He was full on sobbing at that point and I gave Anna the look I should have given her in the first place. The man’s driving became a little bit rougher and I reached out to touch his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, maybe –” I began, but I was immediately cut short by the car lurching over a rough patch on the road, making my shawl drop.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry about this, I was –” he began but paused, the van stopping altogether, “Your majesty?”
“Shit!” I exclaimed, trying so hard to put the shawl back in place but it was already too late; he had seen my real face and my heart began palpitating.
Thoughts of him being one of these people that were more in love with the aliens than the average came to my mind, what if he turned me over to Xavier? He’d get paid handsomely, he could even get his daughter back as well. I looked at Anna and Roe and our faces were in the same direction. If he decided to do this, we were fucked. I literally poisoned the king and trying to run away, his phone heavy in my pocket.
While my mind was everywhere, I began to feel the car move; not turning around to where we were coming from but to the direction leading home. I nearly cried in relief.
“We have been trying to reach you for days now,” the man started, his voice distant, “after your parent’s house was ransacked and turned upside down with allegations of treason,”
“Wait –”
“What the fuck?”
“How on earth is that possible? He said they were somewhere safe!”
Our reactions were palpable but it didn’t reflect the pain I felt in my heart. I had gone and fallen for this man and with each turn, he lies, manipulates and deceives me. Maybe he’s just like his father and the constant excuse of being overladen with responsibilities bigger than him is just a mask for his extreme selfishness.
“Now it makes sense. You wouldn’t have allowed your parents get taken like that,” he said as he turned down the road that led to our coffee shop. I’d missed that place so much but I was going through heartbreak in that moment that I didn’t even realize it had been renovated till we drove past it.
“But what did they mean by treason? Our parents are law abiding!” Anna exclaimed in frustration.
“There can’t be anything reasonable, I think they see into the future or something. Treason my ass,” Roe glowered, her reaction mirroring mine. My parents were not traitors.
“Something about a hidden library,” he shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all, “I mean, I don’t even know why I’m shocked, he had your brother killed for less,”
I was about to defend him but thankfully held back my tongue, I mean, what if he had lied about that too? How many things are a lie and how many were just deceptions? He was decades older than me and I was a fool for thinking I could outsmart him.
With our parents in his clutches, all of this was in vain, we would definitely have to go back and he would win again.
I was like a bird in a large cage given the illusion of freedom.
A few minutes later, the kind man dropped us in our small house, we thanked him profusely and he left.
As we walked into the house, a vicelike grip of hatred captured my heart and I knew no matter what happened, I was going to be the end of Xavier Seth.
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